Iraqi refugees fleeing ISIS

Iraqi refugees fleeing ISIS – A Yazidi family from Sinjar cleans a spot for themselves in a derelict building that houses more than a thousand other refugees on Thursday, August 14, in Zakho, Iraq.

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Iraqi refugees fleeing ISIS – A woman and child sit in the makeshift housing on Thursday.

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Iraqi refugees fleeing ISIS – A Yazidi woman holds her baby while crossing Peshkhabour bridge from Syria back into Kurdish-controlled Iraq on Tuesday, August 12.

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Iraqi refugees fleeing ISIS – Entire families carry nothing but the clothes on their back. Some are barefoot. And not everyone who set out on the arduous journey survived.

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Iraqi refugees fleeing ISIS – The militant group ISIS, which now calls itself the Islamic State, executes civilians who don't adhere to its version of Sunni Islam.

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Iraqi refugees fleeing ISIS – Yazidis fled into the barren and windswept Sinjar Mountains more than a week ago after ISIS captured their town.

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Iraqi refugees fleeing ISIS – Descendants of Kurds and followers of an ancient pre-Islamic religion, Yazidis are one of Iraq's smallest minorities, and have been persecuted for centuries, but they have a strong sense of community.

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Iraqi refugees fleeing ISIS – According to some accounts, Syrian Kurds also helped people use parts of northeastern Syria under their control to reach Kurdish areas of northern Iraq.

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Iraqi refugees fleeing ISIS – A young refugee carries a disabled man across the bridge.

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Iraqi refugees fleeing ISIS – Thousands trudge across a river to seek humanitarian aid in Syria.

Iraqi refugees fleeing ISIS – A senior Kurdish official estimated that as many as 70,000 people remain trapped on Mount Sinjar, and that at least 100 have died so far from dehydration and the heat. CNN could not independently confirm those estimates.

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Iraqi refugees fleeing ISIS – A man weeps after been reunited with his family.